


Waking The Elder

by andrearitsu



Category: Hololive | ホロライブ, Internet & Social Media (Anthropomorphic), holoMyth, hololive English
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:53:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26630194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andrearitsu/pseuds/andrearitsu
Summary: Ina'nis recounts the time she awoke in a mysterious town with no memories and in her search for answers to her predicament met her future partner, Dr. Amelia Watson.
Relationships: Amelia Watson/Ina'nis Ninomae
Comments: 24
Kudos: 257





	1. Meeting The Doctor

_From the case book of Dr. Amelia Watson, as chronicled by her partner, Ms. Ina’nis Ninomae._

* * *

Our story begins at midnight in the town of Devilsborough, Massachusetts, the town where I would first meet the woman I would soon call my dear friend. I had found myself at the town’s pier in tarnished wet clothes with nothing on my person but a book I’ve been clutching to my chest.

Even my memories were nothing but a blur, it was like I had been born in that place at that very moment. As my mind began to clear, I could hear a voice speaking to me. The voice was disembodied, only existing within me. It took little deduction to figure out that the book in my possession was why I could hear this voice, though it wouldn’t tell me why or how this came to be.

 _“Find us…”_ it said, _“Find us and awaken us…”_

In the corner of an alley, a kind homeless man lent me his coat to cover myself up. I couldn’t offer him anything in return, but he still insisted I took it. When I told him of my peculiar situation, he advised me to seek the help of a private detective who specialized in mysteries outside of the police’s interest. He didn’t know their name, but mentioned them always dropping by a local tavern at night, which was notable only because the detective did not drink.

After warming myself by the man’s bonfire, I proceeded to make my way to this tavern. It was a humble establishment called The Fisherman’s Tomb. Before I had touched the door handle I could already tell there was commotion going on inside.

“Either order something or leave!” yelled the bartender.

“I just want ya’ to answer ma’ questions, chum.” replied the patron, a blonde woman.

“Your questions don’t make sense, now are you ordering or not?”

“Fine, I see how ya’ wanna play it. I’ll have an ice tea.”

The bartender left to get the woman her ice tea. She was wearing a brown overcoat and a deerstalker cap. It was like she had stepped out of a stereotypical pulp detective story. I approached her, not sure how to best get her attention.

“Hello?” I reached my hand up, “Miss Detective?”

“Hic!” the detective …hiccuped? She turned to me, “Sorry ‘bout that luv, did ya’ want sumthin?”

Her accent was phony, to the point where it was difficult to tell if she was even trying to sound genuine. I looked at the floor, still a bit surprised at everything surrounding this peculiar woman.

“I was told you could help me.”

“Helping people is ma’ job, luv, but it depends on what help ya’ need.” she gestured to the stool next to her, “Have a seat.”

“Okay.” I sat down, “Truth be told, I woke up tonight without any memories of who I am or where I’m from.”

“Amnesia, a tired but classic character trope.”

“Uh…” I decided to ignore her remake, “The only thing I had on me was this book.”

I put the book down between the two of us. The detective’s eyes widened at the sight of it. Her eyes, which I had not taken note of until now, was a beautiful shade of blue with pink highlights to them. It was like staring into a scene of cherry blossom petals carried on the wind against a clear sky.

“Pretty…” I whispered to myself before I came back to my senses.

“Where did you get this?” asked the detective, her phony accent was gone.

“I don’t know.”

“Do you know what it is?”

“No.”

“What’s your name?”

“What’s my name? I don-” I was cut off as the book spoke to me once more.

_“Ina’nis… Find us…”_

“Ina’nis…” I said to myself. “I think my name is Ina’nis.”

The detective sipped on her ice tea, then she carefully studied my person with her eyes. Her face contorted into a confused expression.

“Show me your body.”

“What?”

“Your body, beneath the coat.”

“Uh, I’m not…”

“I promise you, I’m not just being creepy, it’s important.”

“Just?”

“Fine, we’ll do it in the bathroom, bring the book.”

The detective got off her stool and walked towards the corner of the tavern, expecting me to follow. Part of me thought it would be best to run and maybe ask the police for help in the morning, but something about her reaction to the book had me thinking I should trust her.

Once inside the bathroom, the detective brought out a magnifying glass before turning towards me and locking the door behind me.

“Now, please, let me see your body.” she demanded.

“Can you at least tell me why?”

“Because that book of yours is not just a book, it’s an ancient artifact that humans like I shouldn’t even touch with gloves.”

“Like you?”

“Yes, like I, clearly you’ve touched it and seem mostly fine apart from the memory thing, and frankly memories get in the way more than they’re good so I’d say that’s a pretty neat tradeoff.”

I didn’t understand what she was talking about but I opened up my coat, revealing my torn wet clothes beneath. The detective began looking closer, moving across me inch by inch with her magnifying glass as if she was searching for ticks.

“There’s no traces of any bodily mutations so far.” she mumbled to herself as she finished looking at my left leg, “But there’s got to be _something_ here.”

“Well… The book has kind of been, uh, talking to me.”

“What?” she shot back up flipping her own cap off, “Since when?”

“Since I woke up?”

“Fascinating. So that’s how it starts.”

“Miss Detective, what-”

“Watson.”

“Miss Watson, could-”

“Doctor, actually.”

“...Dr. Watson, is there-”

“But call me Amelia.”

“...”

“Go on?”

“Amelia, should I be worried?”

“Oh yes, terrified in fact. You’ve been intercepted by _something_ that’s older and more evolved than anything that came from our puny planet.”

“What’s going to happen to me!?”

“I don’t know yet, did you try asking the book?”

“How?”

“I’m not the one hearing the book, I can’t tell you.”

“Fine.” I closed my eyes and tried to focus on a question, “What’s going to happen to me?”

_“Enlightenment… Once you find us…” the book replied.  
_

“What if I don’t find you?” I asked.

_“Find us… Awaken us… Become enlightened…”_

“How?”

_“We will help… The doctor will help…”_

“Any luck?” Amelia asked, having put her cap back on.

“The book told me you would help me awaken it.” I reply.

“I sincerely doubt that’ll happen.” she scoffed, “Anything else?”

“Then it said I would be enlightened.”

“Right, well… Tell you what, Ina’nis.” she unlocked the door, “Come back to my place, I’ll fill you in what I know about that unholy thing inside you and we’ll start work on your case in the morning.”

“I don’t have any money though, I can’t offer you anything in return.”

“Sure you can, you can offer me new information. You already have.”

“That’s enough?”

“Of course, besides…” Amelia smiled at me, putting her hand on my shoulder.

“Amelia?”

“For a cute girl like you, I couldn’t possibly refu-” she gasped, “Hic!”

After that awkward moment we left the tavern and began walking back to Amelia’s apartment. She told me that the voice I hear is of an Ancient One, beings from beyond our grasp of space and reality that existed before what we consider time. They’ve been worshipped as gods throughout the ages, though most information on them is lost as most of the worshippers die or lose their mind.

As we arrived by the apartment building, Amelia guided me to the back where she pulled out a ladder from the bushes and raised it up against the second floor balcony.

“Up here.” she said and began to climb.

“Why don’t we go in through the front?”

“Because then I’d have to find my keys as well as risking running into the landlord.”

“I see.” I followed up the ladder, “Wouldn’t the landlord have a key though?”

“Not since I changed the lock.”

Her apartment was nothing short of a mess. Books strewn around the floor, post-it notes stuck to practically every empty surface and empty used tea cups everywhere. The only clean spot was a desk by one of the windows, which clearly served as her work space. After hanging her coat and cap on a bulbless floor lamp she was using as a makeshift coat hanger she turned to me again.

“Are you hungry?”

“A little.”

“I have 70 waffles in the freezer if you want some.”

“Why do you have 70 waffles?”

“Long story.”

She heated up waffles for the two of us and cleaned up some space on a sofa for us to sit and eat. Despite her strange quirky behaviour, she was showing me a fair bit of hospitality. Once the microwave rang its bell she brought me a plate and a glass of water before sitting down next to me.

“Has the book said anything beyond what you’ve told me?” she asked.

“No, not yet.”

“Do you see the red insignia on the cover?” she pointed to the book, “It’s the mark of T’hakothime.”

She spelled the name out on a sheet of paper and scribbled the mark beneath it. I looked closer at the book in my grasp, there was indeed an identical red mark on the front of its otherwise black cover. Something about it felt familiar, though I wasn’t sure what.

“T’hakothime was a cult that worshiped the Ancient One known as T’hako. They believed that T’hako would guide them to an enlightened state if they did its bidding, but there’s no record of anyone actually making it to such a state or even exactly what it meant to become enlightened.”

 _“No one was worthy of us…”_ the book speaks to me and I relay it to Amelia.

“Precisely. T’hako wouldn’t speak to them and anyone that dared touching the book directly quickly succumbed to madness. Priests within the cult attempted to make themselves worthy of T’hako’s enlightenment through more creative ways. Before they disappeared a century back they had tried everything from ritualistic sacrifices and self-mutilation to orgies with octopi.”

“Uh…”

“T’hako is said to look a lot like an octopus.”

“I see.”

“But you have not just touched it, but directly communicated with it. You’re possibly hearing T’hako’s voice and yet you’re both alive and within your senses… That’s fascinating. Just who are you, Ina’nis?”

“I don’t know, I don’t even know if that’s my real name.”

“Well, does it feel like your name?”

I nodded. Despite everything else seeming so strange, when the book told me that name I knew it belonged to me. Maybe it hadn’t before that point, but it definitely did now. I ate a bit more of my waffle, trying to make sense of what Amelia had told me.

“You said they disappeared a century ago?” I asked.

“Yeah, last members died and there weren’t many records of their activities to be found, what little I’ve been able to find tells me what I’ve told you.” she chuckles, “And if I can’t find out more, I doubt others could. This is kind of my field of expertise.”

“Who are you exactly?”

“I’ve been dying for you to ask that question.”

Amelia stood up and walked to the center of the room, turning towards me and striking what I could only describe as an uncanny pose.

“I am Dr. Amelia Watson, investigator of worlds beyond the realms of myth. There’s nothing I can’t get to the bottom of assuming there’s a bottom to be found. I’ve been trained in the art of sleuthing by the great late Mr. Holmes himself… Hic!” she hiccups, “I’m a medical genius, a marksman, a sharpshooter, a lover, a fighter and most importantly - I’m the woman who will find you the answers you need.”

She pointed towards me and winked, oozing with confidence.

“Also, no biggie, but I’m a time traveler.”


	2. Deep In Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ina'nis finds new answers in her dreams and sees new sides of Amelia, leading to new leads and feelings...

This woman would not stop baffling me. A time traveler? I could not detect any trace of sarcasm to her words and yet I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. However, before I had a chance to question her on the subject, she changed the subject.

“Ina’nis, I’m sure you must be tired. Get some rest and we’ll start our investigation tomorrow, alright?”

“Right.”

Amelia provided me with some clothes to change into and made the sofa in the living room ready for me to use as a bed. Before going to bed, she tells me to be careful about trusting what the book might tell me until we find out more about the enlightenment it speaks of. Lying down on the sofa, the book still in my grasp, I tried my best to fall asleep.

The world around me went hazy as I found myself in a dream. Everywhere I looked was darkness, as if I was at the center of an endless abyss. I called out into the nothingness, but not so much as an echo would reply. Suddenly, a swelling noise enveloped my mind. It was loud and unintelligible, yet I knew exactly what it was.

 _“Ina’nis…”_ the book’s voice seeped through the noise.

“What are you?” I asked, closing my eyes to focus.

_“Remnants of what once was…”_

“Of T’hako? That god Amelia mentioned?”

_“Not a god… A people…”_

“I don’t understand.”

_“Find us… Awaken us…”_

“How!?” I yelled, opening my eyes.

Before me was no longer a dark void. I was deep under water and before me was a large city, hidden at the bottom of the sea. Despite having no memory of seeing this city before, I knew what it was. This was T’hako, an ancient sunken city.

_“We are the Ancient Ones… Find us… Awaken us… Become Enlightened…”_

Before I could respond, I felt something slither up my leg and pull me down. Giant tentacle like arms grabbed on to my entire body and without any hope of resisting I was pulled deeper into the depths.

When I came too I had fallen off the sofa and was lying on a carpet. I was awake, it was morning. Everything from my strange dream was clear in my mind, it was as if it had really happened. I thought perhaps it had as I reached for the book. The Ancient Ones, what remained of the city of T’hako. I decided it was best to inform Amelia of what I had learned before I risked forgetting it.

I headed over to Amelia’s bedroom, knocking on the door.

“Hm?” a drowsy voice from the other side mumbled.

“Amelia? Can I come in?”

“Sure…”

I opened the door and went inside as Amelia sat up in bed, stretching her arms. She was naked. Not in her underwear, but buck naked. I could see every part of her, as she had seemingly kicked her blanket off before sleeping. I hadn’t noticed it last night, but her breasts were especially eye-catching. They were large, far larger than my own. After realizing I was awkwardly staring at her, I finally pulled the Ancient Ones up to my face to cover my eyes.

“I’m sorry, uh, I didn’t realize, you weren’t, uh, proper.”

“What do you mean?” Amelia asked without a trace of shame.

“You’re naked.”

“I sleep naked.”

“Of course, I just… I didn’t mean to peek.”

“I really don’t mind, but if it bothers you I’ll put on my bathrobe.”

I nodded, still keeping the Ancient Ones in front of my eyes. I felt the heat running through my cheeks from how hard I was blushing. From the rustling sound I could tell Amelia was getting her robe, I lowered the Ancient Ones, seeing Amelia tie a bow around her waist to keep the robe closed. Her bed hair was a mess, she looked like a character from one of those ‘how to draw manga’ art books from two decades ago.

“You sure look red.” Amelia said, walking up to me.

“It’s just, I was surprised.”

“Never seen another woman naked before?”

“I-I don’t know.”

“Well, as I said, I don’t mind. What did you want to talk about?”

I sat down with Amelia in her kitchen as she put on tea, telling her about my dream. She didn’t say a word throughout my retelling of it, waiting until I had reached the part where I woke up and walked to her bedroom. After that she looked to be deep in thought for a minute or two, before she finally cracked a smile.

“Of course…” she said.

“What?”

“It’s elementary, ain’t it? The cult of T’hakotime thought they were worshiping a god that they tried to appease for enlightenment. But this meant they were misguided from the start. They should have been trying to find this city you saw.”

“The Ancient Ones said-”

“The what now?”

“Oh, that’s what the book called itself.”

“I see.”

“It said that none of those cultists were worthy.”

“Yes, that part I still don’t fully understand. They may have been misguided, but what makes you worthy where they weren’t? You didn’t know any of this until just now, after all.”

“I’m not sure.” I sipped some tea, “It just keeps telling me to awaken it.”

“Well I have good news, Ina’nis. Now that we know to look for some sunken city, that means we have a lead.”

“We do?”

“Do you know why I was at the bar last night?”

I shook my head, the kind homeless man told me Amelia didn't drink and yet had visited that bar every night recently. It was an odd detail, but it had slipped my mind with everything else going on. Amelia sipped some of her tea before she continued.

“I came here to Devilsborough because it has a history of strange reports. Most of them get ignored or assumed to be local urban legends, but I wanted to investigate them further. One of these urban legends involves strange creatures coming from the sea and stealing people away.”

“You think that’s related?”

“Maybe, they must be taking those people somewhere. But that bartender claims to not know what I’m talking about. But he’s obviously lying.”

I didn’t reply. The idea that everything going on with me might be related to even more strange things was overwhelming and somewhat anxiety inducing. It must have shown on my face because Amelia stood up and walked over to me.

“Need a hug?”

I nodded as she embraced me.Her soft bosom acting as a pillow for my head. Amelia was a fair bit shorter than me, but since I was sitting down she was able to envelop me from above. I felt calmer and warmer. Perhaps it was strange since we had only just met, but Amelia made me feel safe and cared for.

“It’ll be alright, Ina’nis.”

“Mm…” I replied, “Just Ina is fine, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure, Ina.”

I closed my eyes and hugged her back, I will fully admit that I wanted to get as much as I could out of this moment. It was the first time I had ever felt secure since waking up last night. After a few seconds in Amelia’s silent embrace I opened my eyes again. I could hear Amelia’s quiet breathing by my ear. That’s when I realized two things. The first thing I realized was that I was developing feelings for this strange detective.

The second thing I realized was that Amelia had fallen asleep while hugging me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took longer than expected, I intended to have this out 4 days ago, but here it is! Thank you for the kind comments on the first chapter, I want to also give a shout-out to Dr. Amelia H. Watson herself who liked my fic on Twitter, that was an honor. ;___;


	3. The Investigation Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having a solid new lead to the mystery surrounding Ina's identity, her and Amelia go to investigate the site where another young woman disappeared.

I neglected mentioning it until now, but Amelia did not live alone in her apartment. That same morning I met Bubba and Mickey, her two pet terriers. The two were brother and sister, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from how they behaved. Bubba ran up to me and excitedly barked with joy at the prospect of a new human to play with, Mickey on the other hand was quiet and mostly kept to the corner. Supposedly she also had a cat, named Wellington, but at this time I had yet to meet him as he seemingly held his own investigations outside the apartment ever so often.

I put on the clothes Amelia had lent me to prepare to head outside, while the fit wasn’t too bad despite Amelia being a fair bit shorter than me and having a much larger chest. I’m not proud to admit that the latter was something I had been unable to take my mind off since this morning. I suppose I should be thankful that I’ve figured out  _ something _ about myself since last night, even if it’s something as shallow as this.

“Hey, Amelia?” I asked as I finished buttoning up my blouse, “How do you take the dogs on a walk if you can’t open the front door?”

“Oh that’s easy, I just let them out through the pet hatch and pick them up on the bottom floor.”

“That seems risky. What if someone lets them out before you get there?”

“Bubba and Mickey are good doggos, they’re not the kind to run off.”

“If you say so.”

Amelia let the two dogs out through the pet hatch on her front door and then made her way towards the balcony to climb down the ladder. I followed her down and around the building and sure enough both Bubba and Mickey were waiting patiently on the bottom floor to get picked up and leashed. She let me hold Bubba, since he was still quite excited about me.

“I’m sure you’re wondering where we’ll begin our investigation.” said Amelia as we headed down the street, “The latest disappearance here in Devilsborough was merely four days ago. The police have no leads, of course, but the site of the disappearance is closed off to the public for now.”

“Then how will we get there?” I asked.

“The police around here are hopelessly inefficient and frankly prone to losing any interest in these cases after a few days have passed… Hic!” she hiccuped, “I’m confident the perimeter won’t be guarded now.”

“Who was it that disappeared?”

“A young woman, like most of the disappearances.” Amelia sighed, “The police won't release any of their names and there doesn’t seem to be any public displays of mourning from friends or family… It’s strange.”

We made out way over to the site in question, dogs in leash. It was a small shack near the shore, not a policeman in sight. Amelia brought out a pocket knife and cut up the police tape and made her way inside. I hesitated for a moment, but the thought of getting answers to who I was and why the Ancient Ones wanted my help made me swallow my worries and step inside as well.

Inside the shack we were met with a mess that made Amelia’s apartment seem tidy. There was an easel knocked to the floor, covered by several books that once had stood on the shelf nailed to the wall. An assortment of tools used for painting were strewn about as well. It was clear the shack had been used by an artist of some sort.

“Ina, tell me what you make of this scene.”

“It looks like a fight broke out.”

“You’re correct, anything else?”

“Uh, the woman that disappeared was into painting?”

“The tools and easel suggest as much, yet what is missing?”

I looked around the shack one more time, trying to find more details. The books were about art history, among the paintbrushes there were also an array of watercolors. The shelf nailed to the wall was empty now, but looking at it I realized there were several more nails along the wall with nothing mounted or hanging off them.

“There are no paintings.”

“No paintings, not so much as a sketchbook. While it’s possible she took her work home, the lack of anything, in progress or finished, suggests our assailant took her work as well.”

“Why?”

“That I don’t know yet.”

I step a bit closer towards Amelia and pick up one of the books on the floor. It’s been badly water damaged with the pages nearly dyed green. In fact, they were still somewhat wet. Looking down at the other books I realized that everything was in this state except for the wooden floor that seemingly had dried up.

“Amelia, look.” I said, sitting down by the wet pile of books.

“Art material, what about it?”

“They’re all damaged from having been drenched in murky water.”

“Noted, but it’s impossible to say if that’s from our assailant or one of the useless cops who no doubt didn’t take the time to dry up despite the recent heavy rain.”

Bubba sniffed the books, scrunching his face up before going back to the door where Mickey was sitting. Amelia rummaged through a few drawers in the corner, seemingly to no luck. She glanced at her pocket watch for a moment and I was reminded of what she had told me last night.

“Can’t you time travel back to the disappearance and stop it?”

“Time traveling like that is dangerous.”

“Dangerous how?”

“Going back in time and returning to the present requires you to maintain a loop, which is difficult at the best of times and near impossible when you change events. So it’s all just too risky, because if you mess up you can erase yourself and your timeline from existence, and there’s no simple Ctrl+Z fix for that… Going forward and then back is easier but is rarely helpful in cases like this”

“What about going back further, not stopping the disappearance but just to learn something about who this woman and her paintings might be?”

“That…” Amelia turned to face me, “That’s not a bad idea. But you’ll have to stay here with Bubba and Mickey, the more variables the higher the risk.”

“Sure, but it’ll just be a few seconds and then you’re back, right?”

“Ideally, but time travel is not that precise. To make sure I don’t cross my own timeline I’ll be aiming for a bit later. Could be up to an hour or two, maybe.”

We left the shack and Amelia handed me Mickey’s leash. She walked a good distance away from us and then once again looked at her pocket watch. I could see her tinkering with the arms, as if setting it to a different time. Suddenly, increasingly loud and rapid ticking noises began to emanate from Amelia, eventually reaching a speed that caused it to be more of a whirring sound. The visual of her standing a little bit away from me on the rocky shore began to haze and distort.

And then, total silence. Amelia had disappeared from my vision.

I sat down with Bubba and Mickey on the shore, Mickey now having warmed up enough to approach me every now and then. As I was waiting I thought over what we had learned so far. A woman has disappeared, she’s one of many cases, she was into painting and had a shack devoted to it on the eastern shore of town… Amelia said we shouldn’t draw conclusions from the murky water damaged books, but if the assailant came from the sea like Amelia said this morning, wouldn’t that match up as well?

_ “Ina’nis…”  _ the Ancient Ones called out to me,  _ “What troubles you…” _

“I’m worried about this woman, and the other ones that disappeared as well.” I replied.

_ “Those abducted… Matters not...” _

“To me they do.”

_ “Why?” _

“Because they might be like me, lost and confused.”

_ “They are not like you…” _

“How do you know that?”

_ “You are worthy…” _

“Worthy of what?”

_ “Everything…” _

“Well, that tells me nothing…” I said to myself as the Ancient Ones went silent again.

Looking over to the sea I saw Bubba pawing at something in the water. I got up to check what it was and it looked to be a small notebook floating on the surface, being hit against the rocks over and over by the waves. I picked it up and flipped through it. There was a lot of writing, but as expected the pages were damaged and a lot of the ink was smudged. I finished flipping through the pages and looked at the very first one. The letters on this page were larger, so making them out was somewhat easier.

“Iofi’s Diary”

While I wasn’t sure yet if this was related to our investigation, I figured the best thing to do was let the pages dry. So I laid it down on the rock I was sitting on, using a stone the size of my palm to weigh it down in case of wind. While it was certainly not a sunny day, it was better than just pocketing it as is. After another twenty minutes, I could hear a whirring sound from further in on the shore. Both Bubba and Mickey hid behind me, Bubba barking a bit at the noise before seeing Amelia appear in front of us.

“Hey, did it go we-” I said, before I was interrupted.

“Ina, you’re a genius!” an excited Amelia shouted as she practically leapt at me into a hug, nearly knocking me off my footing, “Hic!”

She proceeded to show me photos she took with her cellphone of the various paintings she had seen inside the shack. All of the paintings had similar motifs. That of horrifying creatures as well as a dark underwater city, one that I had just recently become too familiar with.

“She painted T’hako.”

“Exactly.” said Amelia, “She clearly knew about what was after her before her abduction. Shame I couldn’t find anything that told me her name... The signature on her paintings starts with the letter I and seems to be a pretty short scribble, but that’s not a lot to go on.”

Upon hearing that I couldn’t help but chuckle, much to Amelia’s confusion. I walked over to get the diary that I was now certain belonged to the woman in question. Being able to impress Amelia with a good idea made me feel happy, but having found out a key detail before she did made me ecstatic. I was now certain that the two of us made a good team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, the game is afoot! We finally have Ame and Ina out investigating things. I wanted to be vague about Ame's time traveling here for various reasons, one being that I don't want it to be an overpowered "solve all" tool, so I had to leave room for there being reasons for her not using it. I also got to throw in a tiny cameo from Holo ID, whether that will lead to something more substantial I won't say for now. I'm also glad I got to bring up Bubby and Mickey, Ame's dogs, I wasn't 100% sure on their breed but Twitter said they were terriers so I hope that was accurate. This story isn't set to be particularly long, but there's still a lot left to get to, I hope you'll keep reading it. Thank you!


	4. Follow Her Lead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finding a clue in Iofi's diary, Amelia and Ina'nis go to the local church in Devilsborough to learn more about the abductions...

“Iofi…” Amelia said to herself, “Don’t think I ever met her.”

“So what’s our next move?”

“Seeing exactly what this diary can tell us and then seeing if that helps us find anything out about the other abductions.”

We started by taking Bubba and Mickey back home. Amelia let them into the apartment lobby and they happily ran up the stairs and through the pet hatch on her door, after that we made out way back into town to continue our investigation. While walking back and forth, Amelia had been flipping through Iofi’s diary, though her silence made it impossible to figure out what she found inside, if anything at all. Upon reaching the last page she snapped the diary shut.

“Most of the book is unintelligible, pages are torn and the ink is smudged, from the sea no doubt.”

“I noticed.” I replied, hoping she had something more insightful to say.

“But there’s two things to take note of. Some of her writing is in Indonesian, though sadly my knowledge of the language is limited. I also kept noticing a word appearing over and over, though it took me a time to piece it together from the smudges.” Amelia showed me a page in the diary, “Priestess.”

“Priestess?”

“Yeah, I’m almost certain… Hic!” She hiccupped, “See this sentence right here, it says they’re searching for the priestess.”

“Who are they? The abductors?”

“It’s possible.”

“And the priestess?”

“Maybe we should ask someone at the church.”

_ “Ina’nis…”  _ the Ancient Ones suddenly spoke to me,  _ “Our priestess…” _

“Yes?” I asked.

“What? Oh, you’re talking to your book again.”

_ “They search blindly… They need our priestess…” _

“For what? Who is she?”

_ “They search… They search…” _

“Care to fill me in?” Amelia injected.

“The Ancient Ones said that the abductors are searching for their priestess, but they didn’t say who she might be.”

“Very well, that settles it. Ina, let us go to church!”

We began another long walk across town with our new destination decided upon, though I requested to do a quick detour so that I could return the coat I borrowed from the homeless man. When we arrived he was not around, but I figured he may return come evening and left the coat by the barrel he had lit as a bonfire the first time I met him. Then we continued towards the church.

The church itself was a rather decrepit building. Amelia told me it was built in the late 17th century and was the oldest still standing building in Devilsborough, which she delightfully noted the irony of. We made our way inside, entering a large sermon hall. While I couldn’t claim to have any memory of sermon halls before this, it did seem strange to me that all of the interior had no wooden structures or furniture, just stone benches and walls covered with cloth and a few ornate decorations made out of some kind of metal too rusted and dirty for me to identify.

“Welcome, my children.” Came a voice from the other end of the hall, “What brings you to our lord’s humble haven today.”

The person greeting us was an old priest with thin silver hair. He approached us slowly as Amelia took a half a step to her side, as if to put herself between me and the priest.

“Let me do the talking and follow my lead.” she says under her breath before facing the priest, “Dr. Amelia Watson, private detective, among other things.”

“I know who you are, Dr. Watson. Everyone in our town has heard about you one way or another.” he stopped in front of her, “Though I do not know your friend.”

“This is Ina, my assistant on my current case.”

“I see. I’m Father Howard, how may I be of service?”

“We’re mainly here to ask a few questions.” Amelia brought out a small notebook, “A lot of people have been going missing in Devilsborough lately, I take it you’ve heard about it?.”

“I have, what a horrible series of events.”

“Are you the only staff on site here at the church?”

“Well… These days, I’m the only one here, yes.”

“Really? No other priests or  _ priestesses _ ?” she emphasized the last word.

“No, as I said, I’m all alone here.”

“Did you know any of the missing people through your work here at the church?”

“I have spoken to a few of them in the past.” he shifted his gaze to the side, “But I can’t say I knew any of them well.”

“I see.” Amelia wrote something down, “If you don’t mind, could you tell us the names of the ones you spoke to?”

“Dr. Watson, those who come seeking my advice do so expecting confidentiality.”

“I understand that, but as things stand we have nothing to go on and I’m sure you’ve noticed the police have no intention of solving things.”

“Even so, I can not give you their names.”

“Fine…” Amelia passed me her notebook and pen, “Then how about this. Can you tell me if there was anything the people you spoke to had in common?”

Father Howard bit his lower lip for a second, seemingly thinking about how to respond. I looked at what Amelia had written in the notebook.

“He’s scared. I don’t think he’s alone here.

Ina, pretend to take notes in here after I give this to you.”

“They were all young women, their whole lives ahead of them.” Father Howard continued, “They were all so talented, artists of all kinds. Sadly, none of them had families or anyone to turn to. They were orphans or had come from far away.”

“Like Iofi.” said Amelia.

Upon mentioning her name, Father Howard’s eyes widened. After a moment he gestured for Amelia and me to come closer. After briefly checking his surroundings he spoke again, under his breath.

“I wanted to keep her safe, I swear.” he began, “When she told me she had those same dreams as the other victims had described I begged her to go far away and forget about it all.”

“What dreams?” Amelia quickly asked.

“I can’t tell you.”

“Dreams of an underwater city.” I added, “Am I right, Father?”

“Y-you’ve seen them too, child?” he jerked back, “I’ve said all I can, please leave and forget about this case Doctor, for the safety of your assistant if nothing else.”

Despite attempts to make him say more, Father Howard left the hall and the two of us left the church. We had only learned a few new details about what was going on with the abductions, but most importantly, we had learned that I might be their next target. Amelia looked deeply concerned about the whole thing.

“I guess I’m really  _ Ina _ pinch.” I said, trying to alleviate the situation.

“Was that a pun?” Amelia turned to me, “Where did that come from?”

“I, uh, don’t know. I just kind of said it without thinking.”

“You’re an interesting girl, Ina.” Amelia chuckled.

“Yeah, I guess I’m  _ Ina- _ teresting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that this chapter took so long to come out. I had most of it done weeks ago but I wasn't happy how it was turning out so I took some time off and then came back to rewrite a good portion of it. I hope everyone enjoy Ina's awakening to puns!


	5. Into The Depths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amelia is frustrated, Ina is possibly in danger and neither of them are closer to solving the strange abductions taking place. That's when Ina's encounter with another new friend changes the course of things.

Me and Amelia had returned to her apartment to cross-reference our information. I was also under the impression that she was worried for my safety and thought it best to lay low after our ominous parting with Father Howard. I was playing with Bubba and Mickey when the good doctor finally stood up from her desk.

“Something is bothering me about what our clues so far suggest.” she said.

“What do you mean?” I threw a chewing toy and watched the dogs chase after it, “Did you discover something new?”

“On the contrary, I’m stuck on one very simple question. Why would the abductors drag their victims into the sea?”

“Well, that’s where T’hakotime is,”

“Sure, but their victims would drown before they got anywhere near it and there’s been no reports of bodies floating up on the beach. That’s assuming our perpetrators can even breathe underwater themselves, which I doubt.”

“You did mention that the cultists tried to, uh, breed with octopi.”

“If you happen to spot a half-man half-octopus fellow strutting about then feel free to correct me, but I don’t think that yielded results.” Amelia walked over to the couch by me, “It just doesn’t make sense.”

She had a point. While we had found Iofi’s diary in the water and her shack was drenched in seawater, perhaps we had been too hasty when jumping to conclusions on what that entailed. But without that we were practically back to square one, which wasn’t ideal either.

“If the water damage in Iofi’s shack didn’t come from the abductors, then does that mean someone else was there between her disappearing and the police closing the place off?” I asked, hoping to kick Amelia’s detective brain back into gear.

“It’s possible, maybe someone returned to clear out evidence… Though that doesn’t answer where she and the other victims were taken. This old town isn’t exactly the biggest place to hide a bunch of kidnapped girls.”

Amelia went to the kitchen to pour herself more tea. A soft thud sound from the balcony caught my attention, introducing me to the last resident of the apartment. Amelia’s cat Wellington strutted his way inside without a care in the world before jumping up on the desk with Amelia’s work.

“Well look who’s here.” she said as she sat back down with her refilled cup, “Haven’t seen you in days and you come back home smelling like a sewer.”

“Meow.” Wellington meowed in response.

“Remind me to give him a bath later, god knows where he’s been.”

“Wait, that’s it.” I said, walking over to Amelia and Wellington.

“That’s what?”

“They operate out of the sewers, that would allow them to move the victims unseen.”

“Meow!” Wellington seemed happy with my deduction and began making his way to the kitchen.

“Perhaps, but move them where? It’s a modern sewer system, the only entrances are through maintenance shafts out in the open.”

“Didn’t you say Devilsborough was around in the 17th century?” I continued, “Wouldn’t there be old tunnels left from an older system?”

“There is, for certain, but the town suffered several disasters over the years and now the only place left standing is…”

“The church.”

“Of course.” Amelia suddenly shone up, “If they operate from beneath the church, that would explain why Father Howard seemed so nervous. They have their eyes on him.”

I felt quite proud to have found the potential answer to what was eluding the great detective herself, though if my suspicion was correct then that meant we had even more concerning questions ahead. Amelia rolled out a map of the town and began scribbling down things on it before eventually turning it around to show me.

“Between the fires, floods and earthquakes that plagued Devilsborough over the centuries, not much of the old town is left even beneath the ground. But apart from the church there should be at least three points of entry to the old sewer system.”

Looking at the map I could see four circles drawn with her marker. The first circle was at the church in the north part of Devilsborough. The other three were in the far edges of town; north-east, south-east and south-west. Amelia was quick to note that the north-east one wasn’t too far from where Iofi’s shack was located.

The south-east entrance was by sea level, Amelia explained that while an earthquake had moved it slightly off course it should still be moderately safe to use and finally the south-west entrance was not too far from the apartment we were currently at.

Our work was interrupted as we heard glass shattering outside the front door followed by loud footsteps moving up the stairs. As mine and Amelia’s eyes met it was clear that we both understood what was going on - someone was here to get us. I clutched the Ancient Ones tight to my chest as Amelia lept into action.

The next few seconds went by so fast I was barely able to fully register what happened, but I will try my best to summarize. Amelia reached for a shoulder bag on the floor and quickly put several things from the apartment and her own jacket inside of it before tossing it to me, telling me to put it on. I did as she asked as I suddenly heard a scream followed by violent thrashing sounds outside the door. Amelia then ran up to me, placing something in my left hand.

“The closest entrance is the south-west entrance, I believe in you.”

Amelia let go of my hand and ran towards the front door. There was a banging sound as the door was hit from outside by whoever was here for us. Then it all drowned out from a sound of ticking and whirring, I looked at my left hand to see what Amelia had placed there. It was her pocket watch, her time machine.

Everything disappeared in an instant. Then everything returned just as fast and I found myself in her apartment, now thrashed to an ever messier state than before. The door had been busted open, furniture had been tossed about and documents were covering the floor. I looked at the watch which confirmed my suspicion - I had been sent forward in time.

I jumped as I heard a noise from behind me, where the balcony door normally stood open. It was closed now and I quickly realized why as I saw Bubba, Mickey and Wellington outside. I figured Amelia had closed them out to keep them out of harm’s way. I opened the door and let them back inside, doing my best to create some kind of barricade by the front door opening to not have them run outside.

_ “They came for you…” _ the Ancient Ones spoke,  _ “The doctor sacrificed herself…” _

“No, she didn’t sacrifice herself.” I responded, “She expects me to come find her.”

_ “You’ll be in danger again… She doesn’t matter…” _

“Say that again and I’ll throw you into the sea.”

Knowing what I had to do I checked the bag that Amelia had handed me. Inside were all our notes, Iofi’s diary, the map of town, a compass, her phone and her pistol. Not wanting to waste any more time I stuffed the Ancient Ones into the bag as well and used the balcony ladder to head back out.

Making my way to the sewer entrance took about twenty minutes. It was a small structure built out of stone, shaped like an archway with a large hole in the middle reaching sewer level. Around the structure were wooden crates and barrels of various sizes, as if someone was using the place as a storage.

The stairway down the hole was not in the best shape, but I managed to make my way down into the dark depths below the town. I couldn’t see anything around me, I needed a light source. After a few minutes of fiddling with Amelia’s phone I was able to find a flashlight feature. The tunnels were murky and the smell would have been enough to make me hurl if I wasn’t so focused on finding Amelia and the others.

Using the compass, I began making my way west through the tunnels, hoping that I’d be able to find some kind of central area to lead me to the church. It would likely take up to another hour to reach my destination, so I could only hope Amelia would be safe until I got there. After about thirty minutes I found a central room with several paths to choose from. I felt relieved as there was just one leading north, making it an easy choice.

That’s when I heard something from one of the other tunnels. Across from where I had come from was a tunnel half-submerged in water. I could see and hear  _ something _ causing the water to form ripples before suddenly a massive splash of water shot up like a fountain. In the middle of the watery chaos was the silhouette of a person, someone had leapt out of the water right at me.

I had been careless, I didn’t have Amelia’s gun ready and before I could even consider defending myself I had been pushed to the ground.

“Don’t move, traitor!” said the person who had pushed me down.

I quickly did the first thing I could think of, grabbing Amelia’s phone and pointing the flashlight at the eyes of whoever had attacked me. It worked, making them stagger backwards as I was given a chance to stand back up. I kept pointing the flashlight at the person to get a better look at them.

The person in front of me was a short girl, about the size of a preschooler, but clearly too strong to be a child. As she lowered her hand I got a better look at her face. Her teeth were sharp and pointy, her hair white with blue highlights and perhaps most important of all - her skin crossed over into scales in places.

“A cheap trick, cultist scum!” she yelled as she got ready to pounce again, “You want to die that badly?”

“Hold on!” I responded in confusion, “I’m not a cultist!”

Her stance shifted which was when I noticed that her scales were not the only thing off about her appearance. From under her clothes a long tail slipped out. It was covered in scars, but one thing was rather obvious, it was the tail of a shark. She slowly walked up towards me, sniffing the air around me.

“You’re right, you don’t smell like them.” she said, “My apologies.”

“What… Uh, who are you?” I asked.

“Lady Gura of the Royal Atlantean Guard” she didn’t hesitate to answer, “And you?”

“I’m Ina, the, uh… Caretaker of The Ancient Ones.”

“Very well, Ina. Would you mind me asking you one more question?”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you know which direction north is?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting closer to the end of Waking The Elder with the introduction of the third (and final) Holo-EN member of the story! I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. Haven't been able to get much done lately, so I'm happy I was able to at least put this out.


	6. High Priestess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ina and Gura make their way to the cultist hideout beneath Devilsborough's church and the secrets of Ina's past finally start to unravel.

Truth to be told, I wasn’t sure if I should trust this strange person I had run into, but I didn’t have much of a choice. As we made our way north she didn’t so much as begin to explain why she appeared to be part-shark or what this talk about her being a royal guard was about. Instead we spent several long minutes in silence until I eventually decided to break it.

“You mentioned traitors.”

“Yes.”

“Could you elaborate on that? Are you talking about the cultists?”

“There are things I may not speak of to a land dweller like yourself, but you’re correct. The cult have been labeled traitors by the crown since centuries back. We thought them long gone until the recent human disappearances, then I tracked them down.”

“Then we share a goal. I’m going after them as well.”

“What for, if I may ask?”

“They took someone from me.”

“My condolences, I hope we’re not too late.”

“Too late?” I suddenly realized that neither me or Amelia had any clue what the cult did to the people it kidnapped, “What’s going to happen to her?”

Gura didn’t reply and we found ourselves back in that same awkward silence. Eventually we reached a dead end with a ladder going back to the surface. The shark girl took charge upwards and I followed her. We came up in a small dark room, illuminated only by light passing through a half-open door. There were voices on the other side, but they were too muffled to make out clearly.

“Ina, can you hold yourself in a fight?” Gura asked.

“I have a gun, but I’ve not used one before.”

“Okay, leave this to me then.”

She pulled out a small weapon from inside her jacket. It was like a double-ended dagger, except the blades were more like sharp elongated cones. It appeared to be made out of glass, glistening a crystal clear blue. Before I had a chance to ask Gura about it, she slipped through the door, pushing it open while doing so.

In the next room were two robed figures. One of them noticed us, pointing towards the charging shark as she leapt onto the other figure, jabbing her glass weapon into their neck. A gargling scream echoed from them before Gura used their collapsing body to spring herself into the legs of the other figure, knocking them over before swiftly stabbing them through the chest.

Gura stood back up and wiped the blood on her weapon off on her jacket before turning to me, gesturing for me to come inside.

“You’ve seen one of them up close before?” she asked me.

“No, not even from afar, actually.”

“Then you might want to prepare yourself.”

Gura removed the hood from one of her victims, revealing what I can best describe as something resembling a barnacle infested human face. I put my hand over my mouth, hoping to keep myself from throwing up. Gura continued removing the robe from the cultist, revealing more deformities like the ones on the face, including octopus-like suckers on the arms.

“What… What are they?”

“Humans, technically.” Gura slipped the robe on, nodding towards me to do the same, “They wanted to be closer to seakin and invoked rituals to achieve it.”

“Seakin?” I put the other robe on.

“People like myself, I’m an Atlantian born shark.”

“So you’re not human?”

“No, do I look human?”

“Partially.”

“Fair enough.”

Having disguised ourselves, we continued to make our way through the cultists’ hideout. After heading up a small set of stairs we came upon another door. Inside were several young women, asleep and chained to the wall. It appeared we had found the kidnapped victims.

We used my flashlight to get a better look around. There were four women in total, but neither of them were Amelia. One of them woke up from the bright light, so I decided to take this opportunity to speak with her.

“Excuse me.” I removed my hood, “We’re here to save you, are you okay?”

The woman nodded, but didn’t say anything.

“There was another woman who was brought here really recently, she’s blonde, have you seen her?”

“They…” she coughed and tried to catch her breath, “They took her away to the mass hall.”

“Then we have to hurry.” Gura replied, “We can’t release them until we find keys to their chains regardless.”

“Right.” I stood back up, “Thank you, uh…”

“Iofi.”

Gura and I left the prison cell to find this mass hall. I couldn’t help but worry about what was going to happen to Amelia if we didn’t make it in time. Gura had avoided the question before, but after seeing the deformed cultist I could put two and two together.

“They’re searching for a high priestess, right?” I asked Gura as we continued on.

“Yes, or rather, they’re searching for a descendant of the high priestess’ bloodline.”

“Why?”

“Because the high priestess was part human, part seakin. As such she was able to understand the voices of the ancient seakin of T’hakotime and enact their various rituals without error. Their search is in vain, however, as she died being the last of her kind”

“The last? But I thought you were seakin too?”

“Not all seakin are the same, okay? I told you, I’m an Atlantian Shark. The high priestess died 300 years ago and took her bloodline with her.”

_ “The high priestess… Still lives…”  _ the Ancient Ones spoke again for the first time in over an hour,  _ “She must survive… You must survive…” _

Perhaps I had just been slow on putting the pieces together, but finally everything was clear to me. Communicating with the Ancient Ones, having no memory or record of a present life, being told to protect myself from the only ones who seem to have answers to who I might be…

“I’m the high priestess.”

“What did you say?”

“I’m the high priestess, the one they’ve been searching for.”

“Nonsense, you’re human, right? If you were the high priestess that’d make you centuries old and unlike seakin, humans don’t live that long.”

“You said the high priestess understood the ancient seakin voices, right?” I brought out the Ancient Ones from Amelia’s bag, “I’ve understood them since the moment I woke up.”

“By Poseidon…” Gura’s jaw was open, “Ina, what is your full name?”

“Ina’nis, at least that’s what the Ancient Ones told me.”

“Of course, that makes more sense.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not a name, it’s a title. In ancient Atlantian, ina’nis means high priestess.”

Suddenly, a loud scream echoed through the hallway. It was Amelia’s voice, coming from nearby. I looked at Gura, trying to figure out how to best process everything going on.

“Ina, I need you to make one thing clear to me right now.”

“Okay?”

“Learning what you’ve learned, do you still wish to save your friend and put an end to this cult?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go stop these treecherous monsters once and for all.”

“Treacherous.”

“What?”

“It’s pronounced treacherous.”

“Okay, okay, miss high priestess, no need to be pedantic.”

“Sorry, I’ll get off my  _ high _ horse.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second to last chapter! I was worried about this chapter because I wasn't able to fit jokes in as much as I would have normally wanted to when writing characters that are as naturally funny as Gura and Ina. Instead this sort of became the big exposition chapter before the upcoming finale. I always liked the idea of Gura and Ina having a somewhat shared if distant background since they're both themed after sea creatures. The decision that Ina'nis would mean High Priestess was one of the first things I decided on when starting writing this story and my only regret is not finding a way to hint at it without just completely giving it away. To be exact, Ina = Priestess and 'nis = Superior in my version of ancient Atlantian.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I thought it would be a fun thing to take the wonderful silly girls from HoloMyth and place them in a more serious detective setting. I've taken liberal inspiration from both Conan Doyle and Lovecraft in my writing here, as I'm sure is obvious. I hope I was able to balance the fun and serious well and if this is something people enjoy I hope to be able to fully finish this story. I've been in a major creative slump lately, so being able to put this out felt real good.


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